Life after Death
by Lady-Toorima
Summary: What happens when the shinigami world is presented with a power even greater than Orihimes? You have to read to find out and trust me, it's worth it. Not only is the power greater, but the weilder isn't a pushover, except for a certain person...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Bleach or any of its characters and I do not make any money from this fanfiction. Lulu is my creation and I take full credit for her. Please forgive me for any tiny parts I may or may not change to make the flow of my story go better. (Ex: Inoues' stay in captivity will be a little longer because Ichigo will be training harder to rescue her and it helps the flow.)

Warning: This story will contain a lot of cursing, graphic violence, and graphic lemons in later chapters. You have been fairly warned. If any of this offends you I ask that you do not read my story, if none of this does then I hope you enjoy reading it.

**Chapter One**

Death really wasn't so bad

"Damn it Jeremy!" Lulu Kaneko yelled at her little brother as he ran from the bathroom brandishing her hair brush over his head. Not in the mood for his stupid games this morning Lulu left the bathroom with a heavy sigh and headed for his bedroom where he would undoubtedly be hiding under his bed. To her dismay the little brat had managed to lock his door before she got there. Why had her parents even consented to putting the lock on his door? After taking a deep breath to calm herself she banged loudly on the solid wood barrier keeping her brother out of her reach. "You have two seconds to open your fucking door before I break it down and take my brush from you….painfully." She added leaking pure venom into her words.

"Lulu! Don't curse at your brother!" Her 'mother' yelled up the stairs. Tanya Anderson, the worst woman to put in the role of 'mother' this world had ever seen. She wasn't Lulus' real mother, but her stepmother. It had been four years since her real mother had passed in a car accident because of a stupid drunk teenager. Then one year ago her father got remarried to the high maintenance restaurant heiress.

"Jeremy darling, give Lulu back her brush or you can't go to Ryan's house after school." Tanya called in a loving voice loud enough to be heard through his door. Lulu held back the vomit. Jeremy wasn't her real brother either. He was Tanya's from a previous marriage and he happened to be eleven years younger than Lulu, only six years old and still such a pain in the ass.

The door opened bringing Lulu back to the present. It opened just enough for Jeremy to chuck the brush at the opposite wall and slam it shut clicking the lock into place before Lulu could get ahold of him. With an exasperated sigh she retrieved her brush and marched back to the bathroom to continue getting ready for another day of boring high school.

Safely inside the bathroom Lulu shut and locked the door to keep out any more nuisances. The mirror reflected her image at her and she sighed. She wished she looked more like her mother who was Japanese, but instead she resembled her American father. Her hair was a light brown and it reached straight down to the top of her tail-bone. The features of her face did sort of look like her mothers, well, in the fact that they were small. Blue-grey eyes that slanted ever so slightly, unnoticeable unless you were actually looking for it, and a small nose that was set evenly between her eyes, full lips (also rather small) that usually frowned or scowled made up the components of her face.

Lulu splashed her face with lukewarm water and toweled it dry. Then she pulled her hair up to put it in a tidy high pony tail, it still reached past the middle of her back. A large chunk of her chin length bangs were brushed to the left side of her face. Just before unlocking the door to face the day she pulled a long hair off the shoulder of her black shirt and gave herself one more look over. The shirt for today was short sleeved and black (like usual) and she had on a dark blue pair of jeans. Even without shoes on she was tall, another trait she inherited from her father.

Her father, Jeffery Anderson, who took the heiresses last name after they married, stood at six feet five inches and Lulu was five ten at only seventeen. Not in the mood to be depressed about her messed up family right now Lulu flicked off the light and left the bathroom. Jeremy was already downstairs eating a bowl of Lucky Charms while Tanya was on the phone with her 'daddy' discussing something or other that would end with her getting more money for some new clothes or jewelry probably. Lulu walked by without sparing them a second glance.

It would be cold out today, a typical chilly fall day when you lived high up in the mountains that is. They lived in a rather large house high in the Nevada/ California Mountains not even two miles from Lake Tahoe. It really was a beautiful area and an expensive house, but Tanya would not settle for less. Tanya was loaded since her father owned a classy restaurant in the tourist area that raked in money like it was leaves on your lawn. Jeffery was the top chef in that very same restaurant which is how the two newlyweds met and fell in love.

Speaking of Jeffery he was blocking the door with a serious look on his face. Crap that was never a good sign. "Morning dad." Lulu said looking up at his stern face. "First of all," He started getting right into it, skipping the niceties, "You WILL stop using foul language around your little brother." He ordered and Lulu didn't say anything and raised an eyebrow. He knew full well that she didn't consider that little brat as a sibling; they didn't share even a single drop of blood. Jeffrey continued ignoring the rude gesture. "Secondly, why do you have an F on your report card?" He asked withdrawing an open envelope from his back pocket and holding it out as evidence. "Simple," She said with an amused smirk, "Mrs. Brookes doesn't like the fact that I know more Japanese then her and I often correct her poor grammar." She was smug now, proud of herself. Her father wasn't so amused. "This is your senior year. You aren't going to remain second in the class if you don't bring this up." He said jabbing at the bold **F **next to her Japanese class.

The doorbell rang then and Lulu couldn't be more relieved. "That has to be Rachel." She said and grabbed her backpack by the door and her hoodie out of the closet as she side-stepped around her father and headed out of the door pulling it shut behind her before he could protest. Rachel Roe, Lulus' one and only friend had a wary look on her face. "That's five you owe me now." She said leading the way to her small Mercedes. Lulu just smiled and climbed into the passenger seat.

Lulu didn't tell Rachel what had happened and Rachel didn't ask. Neither were really talkers and Lulu wasn't much of a people person at all, Rachel would be if she wasn't so shy. "Oh hey, when are you leaving again? My mom wanted to say a proper goodbye." Rachel broke the silence quietly. "Not till after graduation, you should know. I am staying my last two days here at your house, remember?" Lulu asked. Her friend had a terrible memory. "Oh yeah, that's right?" She said looking sheepish. They both laughed and everything fell silent again.

In a little over a month Lulu would be graduating high school and moving to Japan to live with her grandmother and start university there. It was her dream to live in Japan ever since that first summer she was allowed to go and stay with her mother's mother during summer vacation seven years ago. Since then it became a yearly tradition, this time though, she wouldn't be coming back. The thought alone was enough to put a grin on her face.

Lulu was so lost in thought she didn't even notice that they had arrived at school already. "Lulu?" Rachel asked opening her door carefully so she wouldn't hit the car next to her that had parked to close to their line. Opening her own door, Lulu smiled and climbed out without a word. She pulled her hoodie carefully over her pony tail and pulled it through letting it hang over her right shoulder as Rachel came around to join her. They headed for the dull building talking about recent video games they have played or books they have finished reading.

Rachel stopped talking mid-sentence and Lulu looked up from her friend to see what had made her quiet. Of course, should have known. Kelly Runell was strutting her stuff this way. Only a dumb blonde bimbo would wear a mini skirt and heals on a cold slick day like today. Kelly was head cheerleader, never would have guessed right? On top of all that her father owned a very popular ski resort making her top brass in our rich little community. Lulu never really cared about the money her father had or her step mother piled up, it was just a convenience. Head cheerleader on the other hand, loved money. She never wore the same outfit twice and her brand new BMW was never anything less than blindingly bright and shiny.

Lulu knew what Kelly was doing when she walked toward them. It was a favorite ego boost of hers to pick on shy little Rachel. Kelly didn't have the guts to pick on Lulu anymore, so she made due with her best friend. The clicking of the blondes heels came to a stop about a yard away. "Good Morning." She greeted in her fake sweet voice. "Thought I smelled something." Lulu said and grinned devilishly bringing her hand over her nose. The glare thrown at her made her laugh and Rachel stifled a giggle. Kelly ignored the jibe and turned to Rachel, "Don't you look pretty to-" Lulu stepped forward cutting the prep off mid-sentence. "**Back off**. I'm not in the mood today." She warned her voice powerful. It gave Lulu pleasure to know that she still had to look down to make eye contact with the five foot four cheerleader even in her three inch heels.

Kelly stumbled back, like she had been pushed. Something made it impossible for her to disobey the command. After a long second little miss princess straightened up and stalked away with an agitated hair flip. Rachel looked up, way up, to her best friend and smiled her timid smile, "Thank you." She whispered and the two continued on to class.

…

Lulu stretched her long legs after getting out of her tiny English desk. Rachel closed her notebook and sighed, a relieved sound. "It's the weekend now! Four more weeks after today and we will be done with this place." She said happily getting out of her seat and picking up her things. Lulu walked around and put her arm lazily on the shorter girls shoulder and they left the room in the direction of their lockers. "Hey, did you wanna stay over tonight? My mom was gonna order pizza since the boys are going fishing." Rachel asked placing her binder in her messy locker while Lulu easily slid hers into its proper place among the OCD perfection of her locker."Sounds good." The lockers clanked shut and Rachel walked in the direction of the exit. Lulu hesitated a second then followed. Just now she got a really bad feeling, something wasn't right…

It was colder outside than usual and Lulu stopped a moment to take a long look around. Rachel was in the car waiting with it running so she hurried to catch up. Lulu tossed her backpack in the back seat and climbed in front. The ride was quiet, like usual, but for some reason Lulu was geared up, on edge or something. Maybe it was just excitement to get out of her house for the night, or maybe she was just happy school was almost out of the way. Whatever it was she couldn't seem to shake it off.

Everything happened so fast. One second Rachel was following the curve of the narrow mountain road talking about the games they should play tonight when a semi-truck smacked into her side of the car and sent them crashing into the barricade. Windows shattered, metal crunched, tires squealed, and the screaming began. Instinct took over before she knew it and Lulu had ripped her seatbelt off and thrown herself in front of Rachel like a shield. Pain was all that held her mind now. Glass had pierced her arms, back, head, and something sharp had stabbed her straight through the lung, and luckily the object wasn't long enough to reach her stunned friend who didn't seem to actually know what was going on but was screaming at the top of her lungs anyway.

When all the motion stopped the tiny Mercedes was pinned to the barricade by the big rig and Rachel was fading out of consciousness from the shock. Lulu was able to register the fact that Rachel appeared to be, for the most part, unharmed, before she faded away.

Sorry guys! I didn't mean to wait so long to put up another story but a lot of IRL got in the way!!! Again, sorry and thanks for reading my new story! I hope you continue to read on! Next chapter will be up really soon!

Hey!!! Yeah you! Let me know what you think! Leave a review!

~Lady Toorima


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Pain after Death

Lulu walked along the empty lane where she had died. The images from the tragic afternoon played through her mind again and again like an endless nightmare. She had died well before the paramedics had made it to the scene of the accident. The good thing was that her act of heroism that cost her life wasn't in vain; Rachel was able to walk away from the incident with only a few scrapes and bruises. Rachel didn't see it that way and Lulu had to watch as her best friend slipped into a mild depression.

As a spirit there wasn't anything she could do to help her, to tell her it wasn't her fault, to tell her that she didn't save her life to see her sad. Lulu wanted Rachel to be happy, not sad or depressed. Going to her funeral was the worst for both of them. Nothing could ever compare to the sorrow of going to your own funeral. Seeing little Jeremy ball his eyes out and confess that he always really loved her and looked up to her, that he was only a pain because he wanted her attention, to seeing her father grieve over the loss of his only child, even Tanya cried, that was a surprise. It seemed everyone in her rich little town was there, even people she didn't know and would have preferred not to see (Kelly Runell). It was closed casket. The back of her body had been so mangled in the accident that her father had actually vomited after identifying her. All the glass and metal had torn chunks of flesh right off, over half her spine was actually visible at the time. Doctors did their best to close the wounds so she wouldn't have to be cremated.

Now she was left to roam around for god knows how long, unable to leave this particular area for too long. Cars zoomed by and she sat on the dented barricade idly rubbing the black paint from Rachel's totaled car. The images still played in her head and she wondered why she looks like she always does, instead of how she did when she died. You know, in those old movies when a ghost would pass on in the same appearance as when they died? Why didn't Lulu have cuts and gashes all over her body, why didn't she have a large hole through her chest? Guess it didn't really matter, she was grateful she didn't look like a horror movie victim. There was only one strange addition to her usual look. A chain protruded from a small hole in the middle of her chest, it was cut off at her waist.

A horrible sound pulled Lulu from her thoughts. It was a monstrous cry, not one from the mortal world, but here with her in the spirit world. Lulu quickly stood to her feet and looked around, it sounded enormous, whatever it was. In the few days she was dead she hadn't met anyone else that was like her, a good thing in her eyes, but what was this cry from?

It felt wrong, like the day of the accident, when something just felt off. The cry or maybe more of a howl sounded again and it was getting closer. Lulu had pretty good instincts and had a calm mind that allowed her to make quick, smart decisions. So the decision to run from the horrid cry was easy to make and easier to follow. Her legs carried her down the wet road toward the lake that wasn't far from her home. Whatever was making the sound was obviously following her as the sound broke the heavy silence again.

It was closer now, gaining on her fast. Her instincts told her not to look behind her, but that was one she couldn't obey. Her fighting spirit had awakened and an even more powerful instinct to protect herself had made itself known. Lulu turned abruptly and planted her feet solidly on the ground. The creature making the sounds was a truly horrific sight. It was almost all white with a large mask on displaying a long row of straight white teeth turned into a permanent smile. It had eight thin legs and two arms with long fingers that reached out like long individual knives. It was getting closer.

"**Stop**!" Lulu yelled in a firm voice. It was stupid to think the strange being would listen to her, but she knew it would, it would not have a choice. She knew all about her power, even as a human. It was her grandmother that had told her about it. Kotodama refers to the Japanese belief that mystical powers dwell in words and names. It is said that few have the power, but some individuals can control things with words. Lulu didn't like using her powers on people, it made her feel like a tyrant. She had tested it on Jeremy before, just to see how far it would go. Through other various tests she learned it worked on animals too, and apparently it worked on spirits as well.

The creature was starting to move again, slower, like it was still struggling under her edict. Lulu prepared to issue another command. A black butterfly flew past her face and then she was surrounded. A man with long black hair and weird white things on his head stood directly in front of the monster, another man with flaming red hair tied in a high pony tail was blocking her from the creature, and a little boy with short hair next to the taller red-head.

Lulu turned to run, she could feel their spiritual pressure and one of them was very strong, she had no desire to stick around. She didn't make it very far before a fist collided with her gut and she was instantly knocked unconscious.

…

Where the hell was she? When Lulu woke up she was in a cell, that much was obvious, but where? It was warm, so she was definitely not in the mountains anymore. She sat up and stretched feeling as if she had slept on the cold ground for days, well, close enough. She was on an old fashioned Japanese bed of tatami mats and blankets. There was something keeping her from yawning. Her hands automatically flew up to her mouth to see why she couldn't open her mouth. A muzzle of some sort was secured to her face under her nose and under her chin secured behind the neck and above her ponytail.

Voices started to approach her and then her cell was opened by the red-head she had seen earlier. He stepped into the cell and walked over to her. She could tell he wasn't there to hurt her, but she still lashed out, sending her fist into his cheek and pushing him into the bars of her prison. Her eyes shot daggers at him; she didn't need to speak for him to understand what she meant.

The man regained his stature and smirked, "Careful Lulu Kaneko, you may just ruin your chances to live." He warned in a smooth voice. Lulu stepped back, releasing the man who was only an inch or two taller than her. He cuffed her hands behind her back with shackles that made her wary, like they were sucking her strength. Then he pulled her from the jail. Two other people she had never seen followed behind them but she didn't really care or even try to remember what they looked like.

Lulu was taken to a large room with one throne like chair in the back, and it was occupied. A very old, very haggard looking old man sat in the chair with a long white beard that was tied with ribbon. They weren't alone either. There was the man with long black hair from earlier, and eleven others not including the old man. "Remove her restraints." The old man ordered calmly. His orders were obeyed quickly; the red-head took off the cuffs and the muzzle and left the room with a deep bow. The room started murmuring when she was freed.

"Come closer child." The old man told her, and she listened feeling it was her best option. As she past the others she heard bits and pieces of their whispers. "…such strong reiatsu…" "…they want her…" "just a little girl…" She was peeved about the little girl part. She was seventeen, no longer considered 'little' by any standard. Lulu had noticed that only one person wasn't talking, a very large man leaned against the wall with a bored expression on his face. It was obvious he didn't want to be there and had no interest in whatever was going on. He wasn't even looking at her, but she couldn't look away from him. His hair was gelled into long spikes behind his head and they had bells on the end. Even shrouded in the clothes and a long white cloak you could still see the sheer mass of him.

She stopped a foot from the old man and bowed out of respect. Why she did this, even she wasn't sure but she felt it was expected. "Child, do you know why you were brought here?" He asked in a raspy voice his eyes only slits. "No sir." She answered fast and stood straight. The man behind the old man leaned forward and whispered something in his ear. The geezer nodded and looked back at Lulu. He didn't continue to explain instead he looked around at the others in the room. "**Wait, tell me what is going on**." Lulu said, her voice stern, making it a command.

Every pair of eyes in the room looked at her now, even the one from the large bored man against the wall. As her anger flared she looked at the old man. To everyone's surprise besides hers the ancient man answered her. "You were brought here to protect yourself and others. An evil organization named the Espada is after your unique abilities. We have you here to prevent that from happening." He said calmly and was only mildly surprised. He nodded his head again and suddenly she was muzzled again. "For our protection however, you shall remain incapacitated like this." Lulu glared at him and her anger grew if she could she would be streaming profanities from her mouth. She was grateful that they were trying to help her don't get her wrong, but to be treated like this?

"You are all dismissed for now." The man on the throne said and the room started to clear. Only a few stayed behind. The man that saved her from the creature, a man with long white hair, a man with long brown hair and a hat, and a petite woman with short black hair and two long…tail things coming from the bottom of her hair. They talked amongst themselves. "It is decided. You will attend the academy for training young shinigami." He said and the others all left the room.

Lulu couldn't speak to ask what it was and was led from the room and taken to a building that was obviously a school or some sort. She was taken to a room where a new set of clothes were waiting for her. When her escort left the room she found a small bathroom and took a moment to shower before putting her new clothes on. Her shinigami outfit highly resembled Captain Soi Fons' battle outfit. The top was very much the same with no material on the back or shoulders, but her pants were just like any other shinigami garb instead of the skin tight ones of the Captain of the Second division.

Dressed in her new attire and ready to cure her curiosity Lulu followed the man outside her door to her first class pulling at the muzzle over her mouth as if it would come off only by wishing it too. Didn't work.

Four months later…

Lulu knocked down her opponent with the bamboo sword used for duels. It had been four months since she had been entered into this school and she knew everything. She knew about hollows, her duty as a shinigami, her reiatsu and the fact it was pretty high compared to others, the names and purposes of all the captains and the divisions they led, and other less important things. While in school she was always muzzled and she learned how to work around it. This meant that she couldn't use demon art magic either, but she didn't want to. Lulu excelled at sword style fighting and flash step.

Top of the class in everything but the things she wasn't allowed to do, demon art. Just like when she was alive she was anti social and didn't make friends. Even if she could the muzzle made it kind of hard, and here most people seemed to avoid her just as much as she avoided them. Lulu preferred to spend her time studying or training. Now that she knew what it meant she was excited to be a death god.

Captain Kurotsuchi Mayuri of the twelfth division stepped into the room and began clapping at Lulus' triumph. Oh how she hated that man. He came in often to run tests on her and today he had something in his hand. It was another muzzle, but unlike the silver one already in place, it was a solid black one. "Come with me." He said looking at her and she saw the eyes of everyone in the class following her. He led her into the nurses' office and the little woman immedietly left the room leaving the two alone…._great,_ she thought sarcastically. The captain grabbed her arm and injected her with a tranquilizer so she couldn't speak when he removed her current muzzle to apply the new one.

"This one works much the same as that idiot Kenpachis' eyepatch. It will eat away a small part of your reiatsu so you no longer overpower your fellow classmates." He explained in an excited tone. The straps were secured like the first one but she could feel it hold back her apparent power. The odd man looked her over wistfully and left the room muttering about more experiments he wished to try. Lulu left the room and headed back toward her class as soon as the effects of the medicine wore off.

Wow, could time drag on any longer? This school day never seemed to end. They went through the classes one by one and completed the day's work. When it came time for demon art class and Lulu had to sit out she decided to work out some more. She had been tall and pretty lanky in her human life but here she was starting to get some defined muscles in her arms and legs, her stomach that had always been flat now had the tiniest hint of hard muscles underneath the velvety soft skin.

When the day finally ended Lulu was relieved and got up to head to her room. She was stopped by one of the messenger shinigami, she forgot what they were called. "Yamamoto-dono wishes to speak with you." He said and disappeared. Lulu was infinitely curious as to the reason behind the sudden summons and headed that way.

The room was empty now except captain of the first division, Yamamoto Genryuusai, his vice-captain Sasakibe Choujirou, and captain of the twelfth division Mayuri. "You have been requested Lulu Kaneko to become a seated officer of the twelfth division of the Gotei 13." Yamamoto said as soon as the door behind her was shut. Lulu didn't know what to say, and couldn't even if she did. Something told her that Mayuris' intentions were far from pure. She simply nodded afraid to disobey the man that overpowered everyone and was named captain of the first division.

Mayuri seemed very pleased that Lulu was so willingly agreeing to the offer. How wrong he was. The second he tried to do anything to her and he was going to have a fight on his hands. Her new captain led the way to his divisions' quarters. As soon as they were there Lulu was left alone, Mayuri promised he would be back for her later, not a good thing in her mind. Lulu was in a small room that had bunk beds and a small bathroom in it. She decided it would be a good idea to shower.

The water made a soothingly familiar sound as she turned it on and disrobed. The mirror above the sink revealed the scars from the crash that killed her. True, she wasn't mangled looking and gross, but the reminders of that day were plain against her back. That's why she liked that particular outfit, so she would never forget how she had got here and why she wanted to be a shinigami so bad, to protect the one she had died for, her only human friend Rachel Roe.

Lulu climbed in the shower and shivered under the cold spray. It felt good after a second or two and she washed her hair the best she could with the muzzle still in place. As she was lathering her body clean she heard a shuffle outside the shower curtain and wrenched it out of the way ready to kill someone. It was a curvy woman in a mini kimono type thing, she had seen her once or twice following her new captain. "Pardon, I was sent to get your measurements." She said and bowed her head. Lulu realized she was revealing herself to the woman and quickly pulled the shower curtain closed again and rinsed off the suds before grabbing her towel and climbing out.

Her soul-cutter was there by the counter. Oh yes, her soul cutter. It had appeared next to her the second day of her classes, much sooner than the others. It was a short staff with two blades on the ends of it, like a double-bladed staff. The staff would come apart in its second form, and she hadn't reached bankai yet, but she was close, she could feel it. It didn't help that she knew the name of her soul cutter, but she couldn't call it out to release its full power. Kakeme Iki, the two-headed dragon.

The woman straightened up and looked Lulu over again before leaving the room writing on a clip board in her hands. Lulu dressed quickly and brushed her hair back into its high pony-tail letting it fall down her back and hide the majority of her scars. Then she followed the woman determined to do something about the intrusion.

By the time she had dressed and left the room the vice-captain was gone. Lulu grunted behind the mask over her mouth. That was really starting to get to her. Yeah so she could control people if she wanted to, but she didn't always do that so she just wanted to curse people out from time to time or just tell them to go away and leave her alone.

After searching for awhile and unable to hunt down either her captain or his lap dog Lulu headed back to her room to go to sleep. She wasn't tired, but it was a good way to make her anger pass. There were a few other division members sitting in the room or napping so when she came in they all stared at her, the new girl, the muzzled freak apparently. Lulu ignored them and pointedly walked to an unoccupied bed and crawled in facing away from her audience and closing her eyes to sleep.

She couldn't ignore the poking of her shoulder any longer. Who had that kind of patience? To poke someone for a solid twelve minutes till they answered. It was driving Lulu to insanity and back before she gave up her 'I'm sleeping' charade and turned to look in the face of the vice-captain. She had heard some of the men earlier talking about her and learned that her name was Nemu.

"I am sorry to wake you Lulu-chan, but Mayuri-taichou wanted to see you for a moment." She said softly. Lulu sighed as best she could with the obstruction cutting off her voice. She flung the blanket to the end of the bed and got up. This is what she was dreading, and half-way expecting. Every fiber of her being knew she didn't want to go to that man, knew deep down that he wanted to do experimental things to her that he had authority to do now as her captain. Hopefully after tonight that wouldn't be a fact anymore.

Nemu walked ahead of her and didn't say a word. In truth she was very pretty and resembled Rachel in many ways, if she wasn't following a maniac like a devoted slave then she might have considered becoming the woman's friend. That thought caught fire and burned away the second Nemu opened a door to an overly bright room and gestured for Lulu to enter.

Sighing behind her mask again Lulu walked into the room, her hand tight around her sheathed soul-cutter. Mayuri was there, moving about the room moving tools around and straightening up a small laboratory. He was going around a table in the middle of the room that had a white sheet on it. Lulu immedietly took on a defensive stance. "Calm down. I am not going to hurt you." He said with barely more than a quick glance at her before moving a few more things around.

"Come here." He said really looking at her this time. She obeyed hesitantly. The smirk on his face was creeping her out. "I planned to wait a while till you got comfortable, but I just cannot hold out any longer." He said patting the table in the center of the room. Lulu never moved her eyes from his face. She was brazenly stating she wasn't just about to lie down and take it; literally, she was not getting on that table unless she was already a corpse. Mayuri was lucky that she couldn't speak or he would get much more than just a cold stair.

"I said come here. I promise to be gentle. Truly, I am very careful with my female subjects." He said repeating the lines he had once delivered to another attractive young woman by the name or Orihime. Lulu wasn't gullible, she had trust issues with just about everyone so it wasn't hard for her to blow off what he was saying as a lie. Kurotsuchi-taichou picked up a syringe that was all too familiar and took a deliberate step toward her. She stepped back, her grip on her staff tightening to the point her knuckles were paper white. "Now now, you wouldn't want to be charged with insubordination would you?" He threatened calmly.

Lulu wanted to be a shinigami so very badly, but not some lab rat so if they were a package deal, well. She would rather be a plain old prisoner than this man's new toy. He took another step closer raising the needle an inch from the crease in her elbow. This was the moment she wished would never come, the moment she lost any chance to be a god of death, a protector of mankind, a guardian over Rachel, not just Rachel but Jeffery, and Jeremy, maybe even Tanya…


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Don't stick your finger past the bars

Mayuri had a single-minded determination. He was going to experiment on the newest addition to his division, the girl with a reiatsu close to Kenpachi Zaraki, and an even more curiosity fueling gift, Kotodama. Captain of the Twelfth division had her right where he wanted her. Both were in a room with all the tools needed and the tranquilizer already in his hand.

Lulu flash stepped to the door and attempted to rip it open without even hoping it would open. It didn't. The grin on her captains' face twisted to an arrogant sneer. He advanced again. She moved quicker. Her weapon was no longer hindered in restraints. This made Kurotsuchi Mayuri extremely angry, he hadn't expected her to put up this much of a fight. "You know what will happen if you take even one swing at me correct?" He warned moving toward her again.

Damn him, this stupidly brilliant man was ruining her plans, her dreams. Her human life didn't seem very fair, why did she expect this one to be? Lulu had both hands on the staff of her weapon and swung one of the blades in his direction cutting off his path to her. Mayuri didn't like the idea of a battle breaking out around his precious equipment but it didn't seem like he had much of a choice. He drew his sword.

Lulu was happy to see that she was going to get that fight she wanted, and against a captain even. This was a good way to test her strength. She couldn't picture him being very strong just based off personality, but he was a captain, that meant something. Calmly Lulu tried to prepare herself for the coming skirmish. It wasn't her intention to hurt him, or destroy more than was necessary. Just to test her strength and piss him off enough to make him loose interest in her. This cause would have one of many effects. One, she would be killed, most likely in the situation. Two, she would win and be named the new captain of the twelfth division, least likely. Or three, they battle till both are exhausted and Lulu is hauled away to prison for attacking her taichou, also very possible and the outcome she was aiming for.

Mayuri was plainly annoyed. He hadn't expected this test animal to bite back. He raised his sword and opened his mouth to call its name. Lulu acted quickly to prevent that from happening. She flashed forward whirling Kakeme Iki around her creating a deadly spiral around her and moved to him. His power lied in his Bankai, she had heard rumors back in the academy of its basic way of attack. She had to keep him from saying the name.

Lulu was still young to this life, not nearly as experienced or strong. That was obvious the moment he disappeared from her line of sight and reappeared behind her. She hadn't seen him move, but she deduced where he would appear, the best place to attack someone, from behind. Her weapon clanked against his sword and she pushed him back. The bottom end of her weapon swung up hoping to cleave him in two. He moved again, too fast for her vision. Taking a deep breath to calm herself she twirled her staff around her again, but this time in every direction. Mayuri would have a much harder time connecting with her if he couldn't get to her.

She heard him yell something and eyes snapped open. He was at the other end of the room calling something into a speaker. As soon as she realized her blade had stopped moving she was surrounded and restrained. Lulu struggled against her captors as she was dragged away. It seems Mayuris' equipment was too valuable to risk destroying.

Lulu didn't struggle once she was out of that loonies grasp. The three members of her now ex-division dragged her to a holding cell till her punishment was to be decided. She sat there, crossed legged on the floor, eyes closed pondering what they would do with her. If it were at all possible she would still like to be a shinigami, or even put back into the academy. It was hard to see that outcome when she understood the extent of her crimes.

People passed by her cell, some of them were talking about her while others were discussing other prisoners or what they planned to eat for lunch. Not one person stopped by her cell. The hours passed, then days. It had almost been a solid week when she finally heard someone come to the door of her cage, because after all the time she had sat there that's what it began to feel like. Her power was building up and it needed an outlet. In her old life, her human life, she wasn't really a violent person, but she didn't at all hesitate to use violence if necessary. The problems happened when she had let stress build up to much and she would just snap. Once she had broke a guys nose because he accidently pulled her hair. This situation was worse. Lulu felt that she hadn't done anything wrong per se, it was more of self-defense from the mad scientist captain.

The cell door clanked open and Lulu opened her eyes for the first time in six days to see a bald man walk in with some guy with straight black hair and eyelash extensions behind him. Her face remained emotionless as she looked over the guys. They, on the other hand, had emotion all over their face. That emotion was unmistakably shock. "Is this really the twelfth divisions' number four?" The bald one asked turning his head only enough to indicate that he was speaking to the one behind him. "I guess, but a woman?" His voice was layered with disbelief and they both turned back to face me.

Lulu had lost interest and faced forward again. "You." One of them called, she was pretty sure it was the bald one. She turned slowly to face him again. "Come with us." He said and the men turned to leave. Her legs were really stiff when she stood up. After a long stretch her legs propelled her onward and she followed behind the men. It was weird, that they would not restrain her, and that they walked with their backs to her. The new shinigami pushed her legs faster to catch up enough to hear what they were talking about.

"…prettier than me." Said one of them, the one with the eyelashes? "Of course, she IS a woman." Baldy said. What the hell were they talking about? "That isn't important right now. She is being transferred to our division by the higher ups so don't start any pointless fights." Baldy spoke again. Wait, what did he just say? She was being transferred? Not executed? "Do you think she really has some special power? Or the rumor about her reiatsu is it true?" The flamboyant one continued. "I guess so, Captain saw it first hand when she was first brought here. That's why they muzzled her I guess." The conversation cut off after that, as if both men were lost in thought.

They walked for some time before finally arriving to another section of soul society. The two men walked through the gates and led her into the courtyard. "Ok, what's your name?" The bald one asked again, now that she got a good look at him, he was shorter than her, by an inch or two, and he had pink lines under his eyes, like make-up. She gave him a sarcastic look and it took him a second to realize he asked someone who couldn't talk to say their name. Both men seemed to deliberate this. Lulu let out a long breath through her nose and bent down writing her name in the dirt. Lulu Kaneko. They stared at the name for a long second and looked up as she stood tall again. If she was an inch or two taller than the bald man, then she was three to four taller than the 'pretty' one.

"Our captain isn't here right now so you have to fight us instead." The bald one said abruptly. Lulu was instantly excited. Which division had she been taken to that they fight new members? Whichever one it is she was pleased. Her mouth pulled up in a toothy grin. Both men answered with a matching grin, well, the flamboyant one settled with a soft smile.

Lulu pulled Kakeme Iki off her back and gripped it tight in her left hand. Her legs widened and positioned themselves farther apart creating a wide, sturdy base. The two men split taking position on either side of her. The bald man pulled out a spear while the other had a sickle sword. Baldy moved first, charging at her with no fear. This was going to be great. She dodged the tip of the spear and flipped over it to the other side when the pretty boy came at her while she was distracted. Her double-bladed staff thrust at the man with the sickle sword and he moved out of the way while the bald man took advantage of her attack his spear whizzed past her pony tail.

That set her off. Of all her physical attributes her hair was her favorite and most precious. She stuck one end of her bladed staff into the ground and used it to pull herself up and kicked baldy hard in the chest sending him back into a sakura tree. The other one, with the funny lashes, retaliated and came at her holding his sword firmly in front of him. Lulu wrenched the blade from the earth and spun it around stopping it fiercely in her left hand. Blades connected and made a bone-chilling chinging sound. The situation was getting more exciting by the second. Her other blade came down on his shoulder cutting through fabric and soft skin.

Pretty boy squeaked and pulled back. She turned too late after feeling spiritual pressure behind her and got a hard kick planted in her gut and she hunched over holding back the cough that would never leave her mouth to begin with. Her mouth was full of blood and she had no choice but to swallow. It didn't bother her that much surprisingly. Lulu pushed that thought from her head and focused on the present. When she was able to stand her legs picked her up and she looked into both their faces. Their weapons were put away and they were smirking.

"That's enough." Baldy said and before he could say anymore a little girl with pink hair ran from the building and jumped on his back slobbering all over his head. "Vice-captain!" He complained making a warily disgusted face. Vice-captain? This little girl was the number two seated officer? Her hopes of being in a strong division dissolved like they had been emerged in acid. "Does this mean the captain is back?" The smaller man asked looking at the child. Her mouth made a popping sound as it came off the bald cranium. "Yep. He is inside trying to find some sake." She said cheerily. The men exchanged a glance and headed in the direction of the division base after the girl got off the bald one.

"Who are you?" The pink haired girl asked looking up at Lulu for the first time. Again, why do people insist on asking her questions? "Her name is Lulu, she is the new transfer under higher ups orders." The taller man said turning to answer the question for her, then started walking again. "Why do you have a mask on?" She said and then the bombardment of questions started. They continued as if she didn't want or need an answer, like she only wanted to voice the questions. "Why did they send her here? Did she like candy? Why was she so tall? Where did she originally come from? She said somewhere in there that she was pretty. Then the questions stopped and the girl was contemplating something. "You have a mask just like a doggy, so I'll call you Inu-chan. YOU CAN BE MY DOGGY!!!" She suddenly squealed happily and ran over to her jumping on her chest and hugging her tightly.

Lulu was caught off guard by the sudden embrace and patted the child's head, at a loss as to what else to do. The action seemed to please the little girl and she jumped down grabbing Lulus hand and dragging her inside. Lulu had strapped her staff back to her back with her free hand and let herself be led away.

"My name's Yachiru. And the two men earlier are Ikkaku and Yumichika." She said quickly, almost excitedly. "And you get to meet Ken-chan now!" Her tiny mouth beamed displaying her white teeth. As they walked through the house Yachiru pointed out the sleeping quarters for the un-seated officers, seated officers quarters, all four of her play rooms, the dining hall, the lounge room where most of the members relaxed when not on a mission, and then to the captains room.

There were voices coming from inside, it must have been Ikkaku and Yumichika. Yachiru stopped and pressed her ear to the door. "Go to my third play room and then I'll come get you in a little ok?" Lulu was confused but not in the mood to protest right now. Not that she could do much of that from the start.

The playroom was a mess so Lulu straightened up waiting for someone to come tell her what was going on, it would be so much easier if she could speak. Wouldn't her power be extremely useful as a death god? Lulu would swear never to use it against a comrade if they would just take the thing off her mouth.

Minutes passed and she was still in the now tidy playroom. Frustrated, Lulu walked to a corner of the room and sat on the floor with her long legs stretched out in front of her and her arms folded across her chest. Kakeme Iki was on the ground at her side. Her arms unfolded and she started to run her fingers through her high pony tail.

"Inu! Inu-chan! INU-CHAN!!!!" Lulu hadn't realized she had fallen asleep till her eyes opened to Yachiru sitting on her legs screaming at her. She gave the tiny girl and apologetic look and smiled only to remember that the girl wouldn't be able to see it anyway, so she smiled with her eyes. "My playroom is clean now!" She said and hugged her around the neck. Lulu patted her back. "Oh, Ken-chan isn't busy anymore." She said and got off her lap pulling her up. Then she climbed on her back and pointed which way to go.

Yachiru wasn't heavy at all and with all Lulus' physical training carrying her really was nothing at all. She secured the girls legs with her arms and sped forward with Yachiru laughing and squealing in her ear the whole way clearly enjoying herself. The noise didn't seem to turn many heads, Lulu imagined they were used to it by now. But the little girl was so cute Lulu could feel herself getting a soft spot for her pretty quick. "Left." Yachiru chimed in-between her fits of giggles. Lulu flash-stepped left and kept up a decent speed. They couldn't find the captain and Yachiru kept changing her mind on which way to go. How big was this base anyway?

Lulu slowed the running down, not cause she was tired, but to help Yachiru look around better. "There he is!" She yelled pointing outside at the back porch by the garden. She nodded a quick jerk and whirled around to head for the back door. Yachiru climbed down and opened the door. Lulu followed out the door with confidence standing straight and eyes focused. She was all too excited to meet her new captain. However, when she had exited the door and slid it shut she turned to see him and her heart skipped a beat. She was definitely NOT expecting this…

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up!!! Real life is getting in the way dramatically. The next few chapters may be just as slow, but I hope to get back on track soon. I'm so sorry!

~ Lady Toorima


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